


AKA Goodnight, Jessica Jones

by Foxgrrl42



Category: Jessica Jones (TV), Luke Cage (TV), Marvel Cinematic Universe
Genre: F/M, Sick Character, Sleepy Cuddles
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-01-10
Updated: 2017-01-10
Packaged: 2018-09-16 17:01:59
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,075
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/9281390
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Foxgrrl42/pseuds/Foxgrrl42
Summary: To Jessica's surprise standing on outside her apartment wasn’t a potential client or a disoriented Malcolm, but none other than Luke Cage. Despite the fact that she probably looked like shit, he still gave her one of those subtle, but warm smiles she hated to love.“Ms. Jones” he said.“I’m too sick to fuck” she replied. Swiftly, she attempted closing the door on his face, but he caught it right before it shut.“That’s why I’m here."ORThe one where Jessica is has a really shitty cold and Luke being the gentleman he is comes to her aid ... whether she likes it or not.





	

Jessica Jones groaned upon being awoken by a light rapping at her door. She’d been sick as a dog for three days now and her head was killing her. Getting up from her somewhat comfy position on the couch to answer the door was very low on her list of things she wanted to do today. In fact it was one spot below swimming with a shark and one spot above watching one of those romantic comedies that Trish adored. She could probably kill a shark, but she couldn’t go back in time and stop any of those cinematic atrocities from being made. The answer to the door problem was more complicated than that. Perhaps if she just closed her eyes and was very, very quiet, whoever was there would figure she wasn’t home and would go away.

It was worth a shot. 

She pulled the comforter over her head and nestled deeper into the corner of the couch. See? This could work. How would they know she was--Nope. Jessica’s positive thoughts of evading social interaction were harshly interrupted by a much louder knocking. Well, you know what they say; if at first you don’t succeed, answer the fucking door Jessica Jones. 

“Christ! I’m coming!” she shouted with her hoarse voice. Her throat felt like it was on fire and her nose was running like a river. With great reluctance she sat up and wiped her nose on her sleeve. Then she took a swig of whiskey from a bottle that was on the floor next to the couch and walked towards the door, whiskey in hand. 

To her surprise standing on outside her apartment wasn’t a potential client or a disoriented Malcolm, but none other than Luke Cage. Despite the fact that she probably looked like shit, he still gave her one of those subtle, but warm smiles she hated to love. 

“Ms. Jones” he said. 

“I’m too sick to fuck” she replied. Swiftly, she attempted closing the door on his face, but he caught it right before it shut.

“That’s why I’m here” he said through the small space between the door and the frame. “Trish called.” 

Jessica reopened the door “Tell Trish I can take care of myself.”

“She said you would say that” Luke said crossing his arms. This made the plastic bag in his hand more apparent. Jessica hadn’t noticed it before.   

“Yeah, well Trish says a lot of things” she retorted. “There’s literally a radio show centered around her saying things.”

“If you really are all that self sufficient” Luke eyed the bottle in her hand. “Then you probably heard that alcohol is the last thing you want to be drinking while sick.” 

Jess held up the bottle as if she was inspecting it and then turned back to Luke. “Depends who you ask” she said.  

Luke chuckled “Can I come in?”

“No” she paused, racking her brain for a good excuse. “We haven’t been together long enough to see each other at our worst” she gestured to her unkempt clothing and hair “and I’m not exactly in first date condition right now.” 

Luke raised an eyebrow. Although Jessica knew that Luke could tell bullshit when he heard it she had to keep him at arm's length. She’d already made a mistake having him as close as he was with Kilgrave still out there. If there was anyone who could figure out a way to hurt the unbreakable man it was him. 

“Fine” Luke put up his hands in surrender. “I don’t plan on fighting you. You can do your lonerider thing. I’m not one to help to anyone who doesn’t want it.” He started making his way towards the stairs. 

Jessica frowned and bit her lip. As much as she hated to admit it, as much as she distanced herself from the world and as much as she told herself over and over again that it was better,  _ safer _ to be alone she couldn’t just watch that man walk away like that.  

“Wait” she said.

Luke stopped and looked at her over his shoulder. 

“You can come in” she leaned against the doorframe. “For a little while I guess.” 

He smiled “Trish said you’d say that too.”

“Oh, shut up” Jessica said, but there was no sharp edges to her voice as she led Luke into the apartment. 

“Sweet Christmas, woman” Luke exclaimed on catching sight of the main room. In his defense it was a colossal mess. Crumpled up tissues overflowed from the trash bin and scattered all over the floor along with empty bottles and food wrappers. Dirty clothing hung from precarious places like on lampshades and from the corner of one of the large stacks of books and papers on her desk. A mountain of blankets and pillows resided on her couch. It was clear the place hadn’t been tidied in many days. 

“I would’ve cleaned had I known you were coming” Jessica added, though didn’t really mean it. She felt too terribly sick to be embarrassed. 

Luke shook his head as he stepped over a stranded pillow in the middle of the room to get to the kitchen. It was then he began unloading things out of the plastic bag onto the counter. 

“I brought stuff for soup” he said. Jessica leaned on the counter with her elbows next to him. While their arms bumped she surprised herself at how much she relished the contact. The familiar domesticity of it. She couldn’t remember if she’d ever felt that way with anyone. 

“You can cook?” 

“Soup” he intergected. “That and I can fix a stiff drink. My culinary repertoire stops there.”

Jessica snorted “My kind of guy” she stood up from the counter. “Hope you don’t mind if I go take a nap while you work on that.” She held her bottle to take a sip of whiskey, but Luke grabbed hold of it before it even reached her lips. Jessica didn’t let go.

“Not with that you’re not.” The two of them stared at each other. Luke pulled the bottle towards him. At first she resisted, but eventually she let him win and allowed him to take custody of her coveted liquor. 

Luke tilted his head, smiling smugly and Jessica could feel the corners of her mouth turning up in turn. He pulled something else out of the plastic bag and placed it in her grasp. In her hands was a small bottle of orange juice.

“Vitamin C” he said.

Jessica snickered at the huge man’s seriousness in reference to fruit juice.

“Thanks, Doctor Oz” she shot back as she snatched the big comforter off the couch and made a beeline to her bedroom.

“You’re welcome” she heard him reply before she closed the door behind her. 

Jessica collapsed in bed. Even though she felt far more comfortable around Luke than she felt around most people interaction with him was still draining, especially when she felt like her head weighed the same as a cinder block.    

She furrowed her brow when she felt something hard and square underneath her pillow. Jessica reached under and found to her excitement she found her trusty old flask. Good old flasky. Right there when she needed him. In order to ascertain its contents  she shook it slightly against her ear. Half full. She smirked. Luke was gonna have to try a hell of a lot harder to take away her booze. 

Triumphantly, Jessica poured some orange juice into the empty half. Vitamin C, indeed. 

After taking a couple swigs from flasky she set him on her nightstand and prepared herself for her nap, which at first didn’t come. She lay there for many minutes with her eyes closed, just listening to the sounds of the apartment building. It all became a sort of impromptu rhythm after a while. The hum of the radiator; the buzz of Malcolm’s TV upstairs; the sound of neighbors’ shoes walking above her; Luke’s movements in the kitchen; it all became very soothing. 

Just as Jessica began drifting off to sleep she felt a presence with her in her room. She was aware it was completely ridiculous and paranoid, but she knew what it was. She could  _ feel  _ someone in there with her. Her heart raced in her chest and she was unable to move, unable to tear open her eyes and see the intruder. For a very long time she stayed like this, immobilized.  

She cringed as she felt long slender fingers lightly brush the hair out of her face. Jessica knew what hand those fingers were attached to and how that hand attached to a sickly familiar arm, to the shoulder to the chest. She knew whose hot breath trailed down her neck, whose cologne now enveloped her entire sense of smell. Yet she still lay there, silent and weak, incapable of screaming, of shouting his name. 

“Jessica” Kilgrave whispered in her ear. “You thought you could hide him from me, Jessica” he held the last syllable of her name as if he were savoring it. As if the A in Jessica was some sort of fine wine he was tasting. “ **Jessica!** ” he shouted suddenly. “I’m going to  _ kill _ him do you understand?! _ All  _ of them! Are you  _ listening  _ to me?!” 

Out of nowhere her mobility returned and she shot up in bed, ready to attack. She was going to gouge his eyes out. She was going to tear him apart with her bare hands and her  _ teeth _ . She was going to--

“Hey, hey, it’s okay it’s just me.”

Jessica awoke to find Luke standing by her beside with a look of concern on his face. 

“You alright?” he asked. 

“I-uh” Jessica noticed she was gripping his wrist with full strength and she instinctively recoiled. “I’m sorry” she said.

“No, it’s fine” he said, but she knew that look he was giving her. She’d seen it on so many other people before. He was looking at her like she was a grenade that had just fallen into the trench, about ready to explode. “Bad dream?” he inquired cautiously. 

When she didn’t answer after a minute or two Luke shrugged. He knew when to stop pushing. Now, more than ever Jessica was aware of just how good he was. Much too good for anyone like her to ever deserve. Yet here he was staying with her when all she had was a stupid cold. 

“I was just brought in your soup” he pointed to the nightstand where a steaming hot bowl of chicken noodle and a bag of cough drops were placed. He must have put it there while she was sleeping Poor old flasky however, was missing an action. She had a feeling he now resided in Luke’s back pocket. 

Jessica picked up the bowl “You didn’t have to do all this you know.”

“I don’t  _ have _ to do anything” Luke replied. He walked around to the other side of the bed and plopped down next her. “I do what I want and right now that just happened to be making soup for a hard drinking, short fused, mess of a woman, who didn’t even need my help in the first place. I did it because I wanted to not because I had to.”

Jessica couldn’t help but smile down at her bowl. They sat there in silence for a short moment before she put the first spoonful in her mouth.

“Shit!” she exclaimed.

“What?” Luke asked. “Something wrong?”

“No! Fuck, this is really good.”

Luke laughed.

They sat there and talked for a long while. The imaginary traces of Kilgrave’s presence gradually faded away and Jessica began to relax. After the soup was finished and several cough drops were taken, Jessica rattled off a large yawn.

“Tired?” Luke said. She nodded in reply.

Luke scooted down so he was laying on his back and put his hand behind his head. With nothing but an entirely too pleased grin he welcomed Jessica to rest her head on his chest.

“I don’t want to get you sick” she protested. Her point was emphasized with an abrupt, loud and obnoxious sneeze.

“Don’t worry about me” Luke said probably a bit too cockily. 

Jessica rolled her eyes, but her true feelings about the situation were evident with her smile. She snuggled up next him and closed her eyes. Luke pulled the blanket over both of them and kissed Jessica’s feverish forehead.

“Goodnight, Jessica Jones.” 


End file.
